1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid container comprising a bag-shaped container body and a delivery unit for taking out an inner content filling the bag-shaped container body.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are known liquid containing to be filled with orange juice or another fluid as shown in FIG. 9, and the shown liquid container 101 comprises a bag-shaped container body 102 formed of a flexible film and having an upper opening portion and a delivery unit 106 having a mouth portion 103, a joining portion 104 and a conduit portion (shank portion) 105 as a shank portion, in which the joining portion 104 of the delivery unit 106 is secured to an opened end 102a of the bag-shaped container body 102.
In the liquid container 101 mentioned above, since the mouth portion 103, the joining portion 104 and the conduit portion 105 of the delivery unit 106 are formed unitedly with each other, the mouth portion 103 of the delivery unit 106 extends perpendicularly outward over the upper end of the bag-shaped container body in a state that the joining portion 104 of the delivery unit 106 is secured to the opened end 102a of the bag-shaped container body 102 having the upper opening.
In the liquid container mentioned above, since the mouth portion 103 of the delivery unit 106 straightly extends from the joining portion 104, the container filled up with the inner content maintains a state that the mouth portion 103 extends perpendicularly outward over the upper end of the bag-shaped container body 102. For this structure, in a case where a plurality of such liquid containers filled up with the inner liquid content are packaged and conveyed to an aimed place(destination) in a state that the liquid containers are vertically piled up with each other in a corrugated board container box, it is required that each of the vertically piled-up liquid containers occupies a vertical space corresponding to a total height summing up a height of the container body and an extending length of the mouth portion of the delivery unit. In such piled arrangement of the liquid containers, the space corresponding to a height of the extending length of the mouth portion cannot not be effectively utilized, thus being defective for the packaging or loading efficiency and, hence, being not economical.
Moreover, the conduit(shank) portion 105 of the delivery unit 106 extends straightly vertically in the container body 102 in the state that the liquid container 101 is in a usual vertical position, and accordingly, when the delivery unit 106 is rotated and tilted so that the delivery unit 106 takes its horizontal attitude with respect to the container body 102, the free end portion (a distal front end) of the conduit portion 105 abuts against the inner surface of the container body even at a small rotating angle. It is therefore difficult to rotate the delivery unit at a large rotating angle, and hence, such liquid container is not effectively usable as a liquid container to be used for a person who lies on a bed, for example.
Furthermore, when it is required for a person to drink the inner content filling the container bag while maintaining the horizontal state of both the container body 102 and the delivery unit 106 of the liquid container 101, the mouth portion 103 and the conduit portion 105 are positioned on the same straight level as that of the joining portion 104 and, hence, the lower portion of the container body 102 swells downward because of the inner liquid content. Accordingly, the axial line of the delivery unit 106 becomes parallel to the surface level of the inner liquid content, so that when a person such as patient lying on a bed wants to drink the inner liquid with a weak mouth closing force, there may be that an undesired large amount of the liquid flowing out from the container body and, in an adverse case, the liquid may flow into a bronchus of the patient.
Furthermore, there has been known in the prior art a liquid container 201, such as shown in FIG. 10, which comprises a bag-shaped container body 202 and a delivery unit 206 having a mouth portion 203 and a joining portion 204 and having no conduit (shank) portion, in which the joining portion 204 is secured to an opened end portion 202a of the container body 202.
The delivery unit 206 of such liquid container 201 can be rotated at a large angle because of no conduit portion extends in the container body. However, when the delivery unit 206 is rotated and tilted with respect to the container body 202, an inner opened end portion of the delivery unit 206 positioned inside the container body 202 may contact the inner surface of the container body 202 and may be closed by the inner surface of the container body 202. Moreover, when an inner liquid content 207 is reduced, inner surfaces, constituting front and back surfaces (walls), of the container body 202 may cling to each other. Therefore, it is also difficult to use such liquid container for a person lying on a bed, for example.